---
title: Ascertain the reason for which a helium balloon of rubber diminishes… — Gases all around: breath and balloons · tree and pragmatics
description: Ascertain the reason for which a helium balloon of rubber diminishes in size over several days. Exam question 4 of lesson 20 «Gases all around: breath and balloons» of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's ch
---

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# Exam question 4 · Gases all around: breath and balloons

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ascertain the reason for which a helium balloon of rubber diminishes in size over several days.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** you, helium balloon · **What happens:** ascertain, diminish · **To what, where:** reason, size

<!-- .vabout -->
This is exam question 4 of lesson 20 «Gases all around: breath and balloons» of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons/#e4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons:e4:1
# text = Ascertain the reason for which a helium balloon of rubber diminishes in size over several days.
1	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	helium	helium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	rubber	rubber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	diminishes	diminish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
14	over	over	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ascertain** | imperative | you *not said here* | the reason |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic |
| 2 | **diminish** | present | a helium balloon of rubber |  |  | size | day | for the reason | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Atmospheric pressure crushes the balloon

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons:e4:o1:1
# text = Atmospheric pressure crushes the balloon
1	Atmospheric	atmospheric	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	pressure	pressure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	crushes	crush	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **crush** | present | Atmospheric pressure | the balloon |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent balloon=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rubber absorbs the helium chemically

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons:e4:o2:1
# text = The rubber absorbs the helium chemically
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rubber	rubber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	absorbs	absorb	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	helium	helium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	chemically	chemically	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **absorb** | present | the rubber | the helium |  |  |  | chemically *property* | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal helium=Theme |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Helium atoms pass through minute gaps in the rubber

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons:e4:o3:1
# text = Helium atoms pass through minute gaps in the rubber
1	Helium	helium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	atoms	atom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pass	pass	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	through	through	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	gaps	gap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rubber	rubber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | present | Helium atoms |  |  | minute gaps |  | in the rubber | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through gap=Location |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Helium is converted into water vapour

```conllu
# sent_id = question:chemistry:20-gases-all-around-breath-and-balloons:e4:o4:1
# text = Helium is converted into water vapour
1	Helium	helium	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	converted	convert	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	vapour	vapour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **convert** | present · passive |  | Helium |  |  |  | into water vapour *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into vapour=Result |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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